Polishing or buffing of machine parts has traditionally been accomplished by hand-held or hand-operated polishing wheels or belts. Polishing of a workpiece by a wheel or belt requires the proper application of pressure or force of the polishing medium to the surface of the workpiece in order to produce a high quality finish. Proper application of pressure between the belt or wheel and the workpiece is important since the heat of friction produced by the belt or wheel results in a flow action on the surface of the workpiece due to heat buildup which is critical to a uniform surface finish. However, improper application of pressure results in a shortened life of the belt or wheel as well as a non-uniform finish on the surface of the workpiece. The polishing wheel or belt also has to be changed to progressively finer grain surfaces in order to obtain a high quality finish. On almost all prior devices, the workpiece had to be passed through the polishing wheel or belt at least once each time the belt or wheel was changed. Because of the precise control required in applying the pressure with a belt or wheel and the continuous change to finer grain materials, operators had to be specially trained in order to achieve a finish quality acceptable to the industry.